It was a hot summer day in Bloomington-Normal. Allie was making the final touches to her outfit in the car, nervous in anticipation of what the day would bring. Meanwhile Dan was furiously throwing clothes on last minute rushing to get out the door of the hotel. It was their first day of work. After four short years of vigorous studying and excelling in University their academic careers lead them both to a start at the Illinois Farm Bureau as a County Manager Trainee. That first paragraph isn’t true. Dan actually reported for duty before Allie and casually waited in the lobby of the giant brutalist architecture unit otherwise known as Home Office. As soon as Allie spoke he knew she was from Wisconsin and they instantly had something to talk about. A bit of context. Illinois Farm Bureau is a grassroots agriculture lobbying and advocacy group with county offices scattered throughout the very-long state of Illinois. The goal of the county manager trainee program was to take new grads and others looking for experience in the industry, train them up about everything IL Farm Bureau and send them out to the counties to interview when respective job openings became available. In short we spent about half the time in BloNo half the time in various counties and nearly every weekend traveling back to our parents’ homes. It was a lot of driving but through the uncertainty a quality friendship was forming. Fast forward to the end of August and an opening comes up for DeWitt County Farm Bureau in Clinton, IL. Long story short Allie wowed the board members with her skill, dedication, and attention to detail. Dan and the other manager trainee gave it their best but did not receive the nod. Come October, Dan was tired of living in a hotel and started applying to other jobs. In the end, he had offers in Green Bay, Monroe and Bloomington. He accepted the offer from IL Corn, a relation to Illinois Farm Bureau, based in Bloomington. After several months Dan asked Allie if she wanted to meet up for dinner at Rosie's, a charming and slightly romantic restaurant in the heart of downtown Bloomington. Dan walked Allie back to her car and she casually mentioned there’s a brewery in downtown Clinton, IL and he should plan to come down and celebrate her birthday next week. The rest is history. Their first few months of talking and later officially dating were blissful as they began to explore their new home areas and go on fun dates. Then unfortunately the world came to a stop. The Pandemic set in. Going from casually dating and seeing each other once or twice a week to being the only person they saw was quite an adjustment. Talk about getting to know each other quickly! They endured the wildness that was COVID and navigated all that ensued in new cities on their own and quickly became a dynamic team working through the challenges that arose. Finally, they came to an agreement. Central Illinois didn’t feel like home to them. They eventually made their way to the Stateline where they grew deeper in love and experienced all the joys of a new relationship. They adopted their first kitty, Benny, who quickly became like a child to them. Allie and Dan both share a love of travel and experiencing new places and they quickly set out to plan a trip to Iceland and other national trips in between all while enjoying the best the Rockford-Beloit area had to offer. About a year after their Iceland trip, Dan and Allie set off for a public-transit oriented backpacking trip across Germany. They took in the sights, enjoyed the food and found a quiet mostly private spot in Munich’s Englischer Garten. Dan proposed to Allie on a beautiful sunny 65 degree day and she quickly said yes! Through all the changes in their several years of dating, one thing remained. Their love for each other.